Landlord said we could use an existing structure for a coop. It is a decent size, fairly easy to re-purpose, but CRUD IS THIS THING TALL! My first impulse, as will be everyone else -> MORE CHICKENS! Fiance even agreed.
Fiance: "We'll get more chickens."
Me: silent, trying to NOT grab the computer and make an order
F: "Instead of 4, we'll get six."
Me:
F: "...And a rooster?"
The building is dirt floored, 8'x10' and estimated 10-12' tall. I am no longer worried about vertical space nor hitting my head. But.... how tall is too tall when it comes to New England weather and an unheated coop? It is going to need some TLC to close up drafts in the walls, add vents, protect floor/vents with hardware cloth and cut a chicken door.
Plan so far:
Use chicken wire below the rafters and across the ceiling to eliminate the opportunity to roost. (photo 3)
Use a thin paneling to cover the interior and cover the holes in the wood, hopefully eliminating drafts (photo 3)
Apply hardware cloth to the dirt floor, folding it up and securing it to the sides with a buffer piece of lumber- to avoid self-injury.
Q: Would it be best to dig the floor out a bit, lay HW cloth, then apply fill and bed on top or will bedding on top of HW cloth suffice? I think we should bury the HW cloth and treat the
coop floor like a horse stall in regards to ammonia.
Grind down all other exposed nails/pointy surfaces.
We *had* thought about adding a fake ceiling to make the living area smaller, but that's a lot of extra money, time, effort, etc. but if that is what we need to do, then that is what we need to do. As shown in the dialogue above, we originally planned for 4 hens due to space. With the opportunity to use this building, we can totally add more, but I think my Fiance's chicken math is broken. SO the big question (until the BYC sages raise some more) is do we go all out and get a big flock or will this spacious mansion suffice for a small flock?
P.S.: I'm trying REALLY hard to not go order a shipment of Jersey Giants right now.
Fiance: "We'll get more chickens."
Me: silent, trying to NOT grab the computer and make an order
F: "Instead of 4, we'll get six."
Me:
F: "...And a rooster?"
The building is dirt floored, 8'x10' and estimated 10-12' tall. I am no longer worried about vertical space nor hitting my head. But.... how tall is too tall when it comes to New England weather and an unheated coop? It is going to need some TLC to close up drafts in the walls, add vents, protect floor/vents with hardware cloth and cut a chicken door.
Plan so far:
Use chicken wire below the rafters and across the ceiling to eliminate the opportunity to roost. (photo 3)
Use a thin paneling to cover the interior and cover the holes in the wood, hopefully eliminating drafts (photo 3)
Apply hardware cloth to the dirt floor, folding it up and securing it to the sides with a buffer piece of lumber- to avoid self-injury.
Q: Would it be best to dig the floor out a bit, lay HW cloth, then apply fill and bed on top or will bedding on top of HW cloth suffice? I think we should bury the HW cloth and treat the
coop floor like a horse stall in regards to ammonia.
Grind down all other exposed nails/pointy surfaces.
We *had* thought about adding a fake ceiling to make the living area smaller, but that's a lot of extra money, time, effort, etc. but if that is what we need to do, then that is what we need to do. As shown in the dialogue above, we originally planned for 4 hens due to space. With the opportunity to use this building, we can totally add more, but I think my Fiance's chicken math is broken. SO the big question (until the BYC sages raise some more) is do we go all out and get a big flock or will this spacious mansion suffice for a small flock?
P.S.: I'm trying REALLY hard to not go order a shipment of Jersey Giants right now.
